Is it better to do one thing very well, or to do many things adequately?

Question

Personally, I'm a jack-of-all-trades but master of none. I want to get better at everything I do! But sometimes I think I would trade all my half-talents for one thing I would be really good at.

Answer 1

Everyone from the severely retarded, to the most mechanically inclined, can do one thing well. I think that in order to get along in this life ,we should have knowledge in a vast number of things, even if that knowledge and skill is just considered adequate. For example, let say you have a minor water leak in your faucets. Who would you rather have along side of you? A skilled roofer, or a man who has dabbled into everything, and knows a little bit about everything?

Answer 2

If something is worth doing, then it is worth doing well. If you don't intend to do it well, then you should ask yourself why you are bothering to do it at all. You may be rushing yourself unnecessarily, slow down and instead of "Getting things done" position yourself in "doing things well".
To break the habit of rushing through one thing so you could move on, do this:
# Each day, make a list of the things you have to do. Prioritize the list. Select only the first 3 items of your list. When you finish with one item, then you could include the next item from the pending list.
# Give your self more time: be realistic about how long it takes to do things well enough to get the job done effectively,
# Change your priority from "doing things ASAP" to "doing the things well", in this way you will feel more proud with your job.
# Do things correctly: give yourself the time you need to do things with care.
# Take a pause: before you decide that something is done, take a pause, and ask yourself if you are rushing to the next thing in your list, or you really, really you finish doing the job WELL.

Remember:
# "THE DO LIST", is a never ending list ... so it doesn't matter if you rush from one thing to another, you will never finish with the list, you are only under the illusion that once you get something done, you will be on top of things.
# To do things well, does not mean to be perfect
# To do things well means to give 95% - 100% burn out - keep 5% for emergencies

Answer 3

By having so many things on your plate, you're spreading yourself out too thin. This is why you can only do the jobs at hand, only "adequately".
Find your niche. What do you love to do? And then go for it. Give you attention and passion to that one job and you'll excel in it. So on that way its so much better to do something you're really good at, than being the jack-of-all-trades.

Answer 4

I'm a bit of both. I am a musician, a really good singer. when I'm broke I can go do kareoke and win 500$ anytime. but I am an alright herbalist, a pretty descent dream interpreter, I'm not so bad at wrapping stones, I can do hemp pretty good, I'm sometimes great at writing, and I can kick a ball sorta far. I'm not a horrible artist, I know a sufficient amount about history and psychology, a bit about sociology, not as much as I want to know about computers and math. you can become good at anything you want. you could probably play guitar really well if you tried hard enough, and if you practiced enough, you'd get good at pinball, or tennis, or anything you wanted.

Answer 5

I totally understand what you mean.

I'm decent at anything I try and pretty good at a few things in general, but our society is really geared towards the specialist, and I'm not quite good enough to be a master in any area.

I've tried, and get frustrated that it's difficult for me to become a specialist... but part of the problem is that my personality simply likes being a jack-of-all-trades. If I have to focus too long on something, I get bored. I only want to be a specialist in order to be able to succeed if I have to excel in a field... not because I really care enough to put in all the time and want to do one job well.

I value being able to juggle many things at once and handle all aspects of a project to a decent degree.

I'm in my 30's, so now I'm starting to think I just need to change my expectations for myself. Instead of putting myself down for being a jack-of-all-trades, I just need to find work that caters to that part of me. There are many tasks that demand coordination with specialists, or understand many various things without having to be a master of them. (To be honest, even management entails this sort of thing -- a good manager knows enough to know how to make good decisions and hires staff to do what needs to be done for the specialized tasks.)

Still, I do know what you mean. Part of me just really desires to shine in one area. If you can find something you love doing without having to think much about it (i.e., you're just in a position to do something over and over, forcing you to practice), that can help you develop a specialized skill.

Good luck, and hang in there. Don't put yourself down; just find a way to capitalize on it.

Answer 6

Try to find ways to link one skill to help another. For example, use your math skills to help you to understand the structure and harmony of music. Or your interest in Shakespeare to help you to understand medicine (you need to remember strange sounding words in both cases!). Anyway, I believe you can strive to be better at everything, since each situation has things common to other situations.

Answer 7

the latter b/c it's always better to be a well rounded individual than a single faceted geek. i think most people are adequately good at many things, they just don't realize it, because they never specialize. keep experiencing, keep reading, keep participating, keep watching and observing, keep doing and trying new things and one is bound to be well rounded.

Answer 8

I'm just like you! I know a little about a lot of things, I'm a mine of useless information, but yes, it would be nice to be extra good at just one thing. :)

(I think it depends on the person which is best).

Answer 9

It's better knowing bits and bobs of everything, if you cram your head full of, say architecture, then that's all you'll know because the other stuff gets pushed out of your memory and you'll be well boring because people will talk to you about loads of stuff, but all you'll have to talk about is architecture. :)

Answer 10

do one thing better. But doing manythings adequatly, you can go back and fix them later.. so it's up to you. I go for do one thing better